5 quick tricks to speed up your computer
Lisa Du is director of ReadyTechGo, a service that helps people gain the confidence and skills to embrace modern technology.
The best thing about modern technology is that everything is just so fast. Computations that once took days to get through are now completed within seconds by modern computers. Everyday living has never been more convenient or efficient.
That’s why it’s so frustrating when computers go slow on you. For those of you out there suffering with a snail’s-pace Windows computer, here are five tips on how to improve its speed:
1. Clear out your desk space
Having a full hard drive can slow down your computer considerably. To give it a little more breathing room, go through your folders and delete any files you don’t need anymore. Some good places to look are My Documents, Downloads, and your hard drives on My Computer. Examples of files you may no longer need are photos, videos, or documents that you may have downloaded from the internet and that now show up in your Downloads folder.
2. Uninstall unneeded programs
Programs will take up the most disk space than any other file on your computer! You can therefore clear out a lot of disk space by uninstalling any programs that you don’t use anymore. To do this:
- Click on the Start icon on the bottom-left corner of your screen.
- Search for “Control Panel”, and then click on it.
- Go to “Programs”, then “Programs and Features”.
- You will see a list of all the programs installed on your computer. Select any that you don’t use anymore and click “Uninstall”.
3. Check for viruses
If you’ve noticed that your computer has all of a sudden slowed dramatically, this could be a symptom of malware. Perform a quick malware check on your computer to ensure that it’s not under attack from a virus. If you don’t have the antivirus software to do this, we suggest you install one immediately! Some good, reliable antivirus programs are: Symantec Norton Security, Bitdefender Internet Security, and Kaspersky Total Security.
4. Disable start up programs
The first sign of a slow computer is a slow startup! If your computer takes centuries to boot up, oftentimes it’s the result of too many programs automatically starting up with your computer. For some programs (such as antivirus software), automatic startups are probably a good thing - but for programs you don’t really need (such as Skype), here’s how to disable automatic startups.
For WINDOWS 7 users:
- Click on the Start icon on the bottom-left corner of your screen.
- In the search bar, type in “msconfig.exe”, and then press ENTER on your keyboard.
- The MSConfig window will pop up. You will see some tabs along the top of this window. Click on the “Startup” tab.
- Under this tab, you will see the list of all programs that start up with your computer. Uncheck the box next to any program for which you wish to disable automatic startups.
- Click “OK”.
- A window will pop up, asking you to restart your computer. If you do not wish to restart your computer now, you can choose to exit without restarting.
For WINDOWS 8 and 10 users:
- Open up Task Manager by holding Ctrl, Shift, and Esc down on your keyboard.
- Once the Task Manager window pops up, click on “More Details”.
- A new window will pop up, and you will see some tabs along the top of this window. Click on the “Startup” tab.
- Under this tab, you will see the list of all programs that start up with your computer. Select any program for which you wish to disable automatic startups, and then click on “Disable”.
5. Install more ram
If you’re desperate for more speed, you can add more RAM (i.e. storage) onto your computer at a relatively low cost. Installing more RAM is a manual task, so you will need to take your computer to your local computer store to get this done. This will speed up your computer noticeably.
Failing the RAM addition, it’s probably time to upgrade to a new operating system (or even a new computer) if you really, really can’t stand the crawling speed of your machine. However, a lot of the time, the reasons for low speed will be specific to the computer. So if you’re really eager to keep your machine, take it to your local computer store to have it checked out.
Do you have any issues with the performance of your computer? Do you think you’ll try and of these tips? Let us know in the comments below.
Related links:
How to compress large files to send over email
How to keep your Facebook messages private